


i've got a bulletproof heart (you've got a hollowpoint smile)

by smallredboy



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Autistic Will Graham, Episode: s01e01 Apéritif, Love at First Sight, M/M, mentions of murder & cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Hannibal's interests go beyond curiosity from the start.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 9
Kudos: 124





	i've got a bulletproof heart (you've got a hollowpoint smile)

**Author's Note:**

> **fffc's 100th special:** office  
>  **gen prompt bingo:** That Moment (incident / chapter / episode) in detail  
>  **fan flashworks:** gravity
> 
> title from my chemical romance's _bulletproof heart_.
> 
> enjoy!

Hannibal had always prided himself on the fact that he had established himself as far away as possible from his _fellow men_. After heartbreak from his sister's death, he enjoyed being unfeeling and uncaring, of his only interest in other people being their brains, the way he could manipulate them — their bodies, the way he could manipulate them. 

He had removed himself from social life in a way that made him still be active in it, while not caring about any of the people therein. He did not care about his fellow men, and he thrived in it, in that idea of every man for himself. A dog eat dog world; or, if you wanted to get technical, a man eat man world.

It wasn't until he met Will Graham that he legitimately felt something for someone once more. At first it was curiosity, that tug of the string when you see a really interesting science paper— it wasn't anything more than that. He had heard about him, about that mystical profiler whose brain worked in strange ways, empathy bright and pulsing like a light bulb, personality disorders allowing him to see into a killer's mind the way no one else could.

He wondered what he came across in his brain. What he saw when he stared at a news article of a Ripper murder; did he see hurt? Did he see his sister, devoured in an open field? Or did he see cruelty for cruelty's sake, an obsession with aesthetics, an obsession with the ugliness of the world being stripped bare and dying in his hands?

It wasn't until he finally saw him at Jack Crawford's office that simple curiosity was replaced with something else.

"Not fond of eye contact, are you?" he had asked, brows raised in a silent question, like he was going through the checklist of the symptoms of the autism spectrum. 

"Eyes are distracting," Will had said before he looked at him — finally, _finally_ looked at him. It almost felt like being stripped bare, like Will could see every one of his thoughts, easy and plain to read. "You see too much, you don't see enough. And— and it's hard to focus when you're thinking, um, _oh those whites are really white_ , or, _he must have hepatitis_ , or, _oh is that a burst vein?_ So yeah, I try to avoid eyes whenever possible." He swallowed and looked away. "Jack?"

Hannibal couldn't help but let out a little laugh, and without being able to stop himself, he smiled at Will in a manner that was almost fond. His heart did an uncomfortable seizing in his chest, in a way that almost made him think he was having a heart attack. But then, after not being familiar with that emotion for years — he understood what he felt.

It wasn't just curiosity that would run his thoughts about Will Graham anymore, no, he thought as he considered what he would do to let Will see the man Jack wanted him to catch. It was _interest_ — keen, sharp interest, impaling him onto a tree to get his organs out. His _heart_ out.

He knew what he wanted out of Will, and it was far more than him being a sick experiment like countless others.

"This cannibal you have him getting to know…" he started, smiling at Jack in a manner that rendered him innocent, "I think I can help good Will see his face."

And his own, he added silently. And his own.


End file.
